Health workers get ready to spray insecticide to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmits the Zika virus under the bleachers of the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, which will be used for the... (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)

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"But for the games, would anyone recommend sending an extra half a million visitors into Brazil right now?" University of Ottawa professor Amir Attaran writes in the Harvard Public Health Review. According to the AP, Attaran is calling on the International Olympic Committee to postpone or relocate the Summer Olympics—scheduled to start Aug. 5 in Rio de Janeiro—to slow the global spread of the Zika virus. "If the IOC and the World Health Organization do not have the generosity of heart to delay the games to prevent children being born and disabled their whole lives, then they're among the cruelest institutions in the world," Attaran says. He advocates quickly splitting the games up amongst cities around the world that have already hosted them and have the infrastructure in place, the Canadian Press reports.

For its part, the IOC says it will do no such thing, pointing out that the World Health Organization hasn't recommended travel bans. "We're confident as we've been advised by the experts that the situation will improve over the next three months," the IOC's medical director tells the AP. Attaran isn't convinced and says holding the games as scheduled could potentially "wreck the health of the world." "It's a bit like saying: 'We're holding the games in Fukushima. Protect yourself. Wear a lead suit. It will all be fine,"' he tells the Canadian Press. Most people infected by Zika have no symptoms or mild ones. But the virus has been proven to cause birth defects in babies born to infected women and can be transmitted sexually.

Well things are looking up for the time being. Rio has decided not to charge member countries' athletes for A/C, towels, sheets, and pillows. But visitors to the games will still have to insert coins into boxes on the hotel walls for A/C service and they will decide at check in if they are taking the room option with or without linen service. This will only happen in the Olympic village as the national chain hotels don't intend to do that. They've settled on a level of sewage that is nominal yet still noticeable. They have reduced sewer output as much as possible for the city the size of Rio. No further reduction is possible. You will still encounter a presence of poo smell for riparian events, it cannot be avoided. Parts of the golf course, not done since 1904, won't be finished in time due to ecological considerations. Enough of it will be done for them to use the full course, minus the part that will remain forested. The nice thing about the grass is its a native of Brazil and is a mixture between Kentucky Blue grass and Sinsemilla. They can play on it all day and smoke it in the evening. Just for the fun of it, the Russian dorm has been equipped with some Sochi era features. The internet there is 56k, the water is brown, there's dogs everywhere, there are high voltage circuit panels in the shower stalls, and bathroom doors lock from the outside. They figure Russia will feel quite at home with those features.

skoony

May 12, 2016 7:21 AM CDT

Remember monkey pox? Your chances of getting the Zika virus are minuscule compared to other things that are just as bad or worse. http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/brazil Why is this a story?